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What should I do? Need advice...

1K views 12 replies 9 participants last post by  gottatrot 
#1 ·
DH and I have traveled to Georgia to visit family. We are staying a while (a couple months). There are horses in a small paddock down the street.

When we drove by the first morning, I commented that one of them looked a little thin, then I said it might be because he is an older horse who has trouble keeping weight on. Yesterday morning, I decided to walk down the street and go visit with them.

I walked up to the fence and whistled at them, and the two in this front small paddock came running up to see who I was (I know, most owners don't like others even just petting their animals over the fence. But I figured to follow the old rule 'better to ask forgiveness than permission'). All the way up to the fence and stuck their heads through eating grass on the other side. I was HORRIFIED when I saw them up close. They are so thin, and their coats were so greasy, dirty, and covered with salt from sweat I did not even want to pet them. The horse that looked thin from far off is a 2 on the Henneke scale. The other is a little bit better but I wouldn't say a 3. They didn't look terribly thin from far off because their bellies are huge with what I'd guess to be a bad case of worms. The only thing not completely horrifying was their hooves, which looked like they've had some care in the last 6 months, or possibly their feet are just growing that slowly from lack of nutrition. I have yet to see anyone feeding or handling these horses, and their paddock (about 1.5 to 2 acres) is full of manure just everywhere.

There is a third horse in an adjoining paddock, and this is very odd. This horse is well taken care of. Maybe a teeny bit on the thin side, probably a 4 on the scale. His mane has been trimmed/pulled, if he has worms at all it is not noticeable, hooves well cared for, shiny coat, and his paddock has had the manure removed.

My guess is that this is a boarding stable (not really a stable, a couple of paddocks with two rinky dink run ins that need some serious TLC) and the owner of the property just doesn't care how their boarders care for these horses.

I'm not sure what to do about the emaciated horses, or if I should even do anything? I'm not sure I can stand to look at them everyday without at least knowing I tried to help. Here is what I have thought of so far:

1) Knock on the door of the house and introduce myself, explain I'm an out of state horse person looking to find out if I can help out around the barn, groom horses, muck, etc. Just a horse person hoping to spend a little time with horses, and casually ask about the "hard keepers"/"old guys"/"thin ones". Maybe find out some info about the situation and if the owners care, possibly give some suggestions on what can be done to help them. I highly doubt the owners care given that the horses don't look to have been groomed for a few years. The problem with this scenario is that as DH pointed out, if I do decide to call authorities afterwards they will know who it was. I am not sure that matters though.

2) Just call the authorities outright. I am not sure if they will do anything though. I know cops drive by all the time (granted, as I said, the horses look fine from a distance) and obviously nothing seems to have been done so far. I know in AZ that it is pretty much useless calling authorities. As long as the owner has feed somewhere and the horse has water, they won't do anything.

3) Do nothing? I'm not sure I can live with myself.

Advice please? I have never dealt with this before. I'm not sure how to go about it or if there is anything to be done, aside from my own physical efforts to help the horses provided the owners allowed me to.
 
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#2 ·
Hmm, thinking on it, the first paddock is more like 1.25 to 1.5 acres. The second with the healthy horse is smaller.
 
#4 ·
Call the authorities if you feel you need to do something.

Going up and knocking on a stranger's door and trying to 'educate' them about proper horse care, especially since you're just some random person from out of town, will not go over well. It could easily escalate to violence.

Lastly, stay away from the animals themselves. That's trespassing, and you have no right to do so.

For some reaon, you seem to feel you're entitled to make judgment calls on a situation about which you know exactly nothing.
 
#5 ·
That's a shame that you had to witness that. Makes me sad even thinking about it. Sadly, there are a lot of people that have horses & use them as decorations...well, lawn ornaments really. It's sad. We don't know the history of the horses or the barn owners/boarders though. Whoever is boarding them there (if it isn't the owners horse, who really knows who owns them) obviously isn't the best caregiver. However, if you really feel the need to call the authorities you can, I'm not sure what they would or can do though sadly. But as for walking up to them I don't know if that would do anyone any good in the long run. Can't really tell people anything, 99.9% of the time they won't listen. It's a tough situation, especially for us people with big hearts and we love horses so much, seeing any in circumstances like that break our hearts.

Let us know what you decide!
 
#7 ·
This certainly does seem to be a neglect case since even an old horse with heath issues could be a hard keeper but still be groomed (not that grooming is the most important thing but it does show lack of attention). If you feel that you need to do something, I say to call the authorities and then keep your distance. They may or may not do anything, but they are the only ones who legally could.
 
#8 ·
Either call the local authorities, if you're out in the county probably the sheriff, and make complaint or mind your own. 2nd the comment of staying away from the horses and the property and total NIX on going up to some stranger's house. I mean, what are you going to say that isn't going to be totally obnoxious? "Hi I'm Horseluvr, and I'm here from AZ to educate your ignorant self about how emaciated and neglected your horses are.". Yah, no. Likely to get a knuckle sandwich if they're feeling kind that day and a shotgun if they're not.
 
#9 ·
Put in a call to animal control so if there is anything to be done they will do it.

I did not cross onto their property, I was on the public side of the road where people walk. This is the middle of the suburbs and people in the neighborhood frequently walk up to the fence to visit the horses. I'm not saying its right, that is just the way it is. It was much the same when I had my horses boarded in the middle of the suburbs. There are no signs either so your average suburbian is not going to know its not ok to go pet the pretty horsies, or worse feed them treats.

I was not going to knock on their door and tell them how to take care of their horses, lol. More just say hi and try to be neighborly, maybe find out some info about the situation in the process. People don't really introduce themselves to their neighbors anymore though. Neighborly is almost a dated term in a way. I remember last year we offered some fresh rosemary to one of our neighbors who was doing yard work while we were in the garden. He looked at us like we were from an alien planet before declining lol.

Anyway, that's that.
 
#10 ·
Yeah, people are so hooked on the internet and would rather not even speak to people anymore in person. I think that would've been fine then, to go say hi to them and whatnot.
That's good you put in a call to Animal Control, they may go and scope out the property.
 
#11 ·
I do think going and talking to the property owner is a good idea, if you are careful and most importantly, tactful and polite. You seem to have a good notion of how to do this, the trick is just not triggering someone to be defensive or angry.

Simple, direct, and tactful. Some people in those situations don't care, are ignorant, or are in a bad situation financially or mentally where even if they know there is a problem, they aren't able to do something about it themselves. You might be able to get information that will help the person as well as the animals.
 
#12 ·
@Mulefeather

That's what I thought too. I would always first want to try to be helpful before outright calling the authorities. The last thing I would ever want is for somebody's horses to be taken away, unless they simply refused to take care of them.

I guess trying to help out a stranger in a situation such as this is not done anymore? Almost seems to me like people are afraid of face to face human interaction.

I have heard plenty of stories, had plenty of people complain to me about 'so-and-so' who doesn't take care of their horse right, blah blah blah. Then I ask them, 'did you offer to help? since you live next door, maybe you could help out with one feed a day? maybe you could help put up a fence so the horse has a bigger area?' etc. etc. Always things that would only cost them some of their time. I'm always met with an attitude of "not my horse, not my problem". :shrug: don't complain if you won't do anything to help. Excepting when you are helping the horses without owner's permission (definitely not ok) or the owners refuse your help, in which case there is nothing to do but call the authorities if the horse is being seriously neglected.

Anyway I will update this thread if there is any change. I'm hoping to see the horses put on some weight over the next few weeks rather than see them taken away.
 
#13 ·
Horses that are 2 and 3 on the body condition scoring chart do not fall into a category of "you don't know what is going on," or "it's none of your business." That is cruelty, the animals are suffering, and someone needs to intervene. It doesn't matter if the owner has fallen on hard times or if the owner is ignorant. Any human can see that a horse that thin is unhealthy and needing help.

I think it was good to call the authorities, because even if they are planning to give the owners a chance to fix things, they can get things moving faster. My mare, Halla was owned by someone extremely ignorant and that was a big reason why she was starving. We did not involve the authorities because the owner was willing to let us take the horses temporarily, and then we later used more forceful persuasion to get the horses signed over to us. It's possible the owner is extremely ignorant. But it's unlikely they will have the resources, time or incentive to help the horses if they've let them get to this point. The authorities might provide the incentive to get the owners to take some steps in the right direction at least.

Halla's owner was so ignorant she thought feeding 1 flake of hay daily to an Arab and a big TB in a dry lot was adequate as long as the hay was nice and green. Her ignorance did not mean she had the money to provide more hay, or that she would place enough importance on the horses to make time to feed them more often. Because of those things we did not think she should have horses anymore, even though she thought she loved them. Someone like this might be happy to talk to you, but I have doubts they will make big changes if they've let horses get to this point.

I don't mean that to sound very negative, because the positive thing is that you have noticed the horses and are trying to get them help! Like you, I'd at least have given it a shot by talking to the owners to see what is going on. I've talked to lots of owners of horses about things that are bad for their horses, and sometimes it's helped bring in someone else who could persuade them or get help for the horses.
 
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